Hello all, some of you have said to me that we don’t shout enough about all the very different things we do. So I thought I’d share some of the upcoming events that are keeping us busy.

Back in February, we announced that our TEAM programme had been awarded £400,000 from Paul Hamlyn Foundation (PHF), to support the next, four-year phase of our work, in Pembrokeshire and Wrexham.

The amazing Collaborations team here at NTW led by Devinda De Silva– which runs TEAM, among other projects – have been hard at work since then in both locations. Our TEAM Associate Robbie Price is in Pembrokeshire and in Wrexham we have TEAM Associate Lizzie Glazier. They’ve helped organise creative workshops, open mic nights, created an album, and in Tenby, helped put together Tide Whisperer’s invaluable community cast. As I explained in my last blog post, this is all a core part of NTW’s vision, and is geared towards opening the door to as many people as possible.

As we near the end of the first year of the project, we’re gearing up for two exciting Performance Parties – In Haverfordwest, Pembs, on 22 November, and in Wrexham on 6 December.

For those of you who may not have experienced an NTW Performance Party. It is just that – an opportunity for existing, new and potential TEAM members to enjoy a night of performance, discussion, food, drink and idea-sharing. It’s also a chance for communities in Pembrokeshire and Wrexham to tell us what is important to them and what they want from TEAM and NTW. At the end of this four-year project, we’ll be staging a full production in both locations created in collaboration with both communities, and these Performance Parties are a crucial point in terms of our conversations with those communities, so please, please come and join the Party!

Find out more about the Pembs Performance Partyhere, and about the Wrexham Performance Partyhere. See you there, I hope.

Also on the subject of TEAM, we’re on the lookout for new TEAM Panel members to join from January 2019. If you’re not aware of it, TEAM Panel is a group of up to 15 people who support, question and advise NTW, meeting a minimum of four times a year. One of its most important functions is to open up some of the company’s decision-making processes. Panel form a central part of our thinking and approach – members can expect to contribute to our strategic plan, our programming, be part of our interview panels and to attend an NTW Board meeting.

We’re looking for anyone aged 16+ who wants to work with us to make a difference. This isn’t aimed at a specific group, in fact we want a real mix of people. One of the strengths of TEAM is that we’ve always encouraged and supported a broad range of voices. And since TEAM will be creating a show in Pembrokeshire in 2020 and another in Wrexham in 2021, we are particularly interested in applicants from either of those locations.

The deadline for applications is 26 November 2018. Find out more here.

Meanwhile, this week we’ve created a video celebrating our NHS70 Festival, which we held in July to mark this remarkable institution’s 70th birthday. It is astonishing to think we staged 114 performances, with more than 100 creatives, cast and crew across Wales in just one month. We know not everyone could get to see it all, so whether you caught some, all, or none of our festival, this video is a beautiful tribute to everyone’s hard work, and in turn we hope the Festival was a fitting tribute to one of Wales’ best exports.

Check the video out here:

As for what’s next – watch this space for some exciting Welsh artists opportunities!